


Mothering Sunday

by LordRebeccaSama



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Complete, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Mother's Day, One Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 03:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11958729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordRebeccaSama/pseuds/LordRebeccaSama
Summary: Young Harry James Potter only had one person in his life he'd want to celebrate Mother's Day for, but thankfully Teddy has a lot more.





	Mothering Sunday

**Author's Note:**

> OMFG, I didn't realize I never posted this. I wrote this like two years ago for a class. I suck. Well, enjoy.

**Saturday, March 8, 1986**

“Aunt ‘Tunia,” a young Harry whispered, “the teacher said at school that we gotta say thank you for being our mom.  So thanks.” He smiled up at the stern woman.

Petunia frowned.  The boy was being weird again.  What child remembers things like that?  Her precious Dudders didn’t remember, and that was fine with her.  She found the card he made for her a couple days ago, anyway.

“I’m not your mother,” she stated, finishing the scrubbing on the frying pan she held.

Harry gnawed at his lip in thought. He glanced up at her through his eyelashes, fingers wound together in front of him.

“Where is she?”

“Dead.”

“When’s she gonna come back?”

Petunia’s hand clenched around the pan handle. “Go to your cupboard.”

“I need to wish her a Harry Mothering Day tomorrow, too.”

Petunia spun around, frying pan still gripped in her hand. She raised it above her shoulder in a position to swing it down, hard, if the freak gave her reason to.

“Stop asking questions!  Dead is gone!  Your freak of a mother and drunk of a father are never coming back!  Go to your cupboard, now!”

“But Aunt ‘Tunia—”

Petunia slammed the pan down on the counter a foot away from where Harry was standing.  She watched his stare at the pan in shock for a moment before bolting from the room and slamming the cupboard door closed behind him.

She inspected the counter for damages, but since she found none, she put the frying pan away in the cabinet and decided not to tell Vernon of the incident.  Served the little freak right.

 

**Saturday, March 20, 2004**

“Why’s he so small?” Teddy asked, leaning over James’ crib.

Uncle Harry chuckled and ruffled his currently black hair. “He’s a baby.  You were that small, too, once.”

Teddy glared at Uncle Harry. “Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah-huh.” Uncle Harry smiled and brushed his hand gently over James’ dark brown tuff of hair.

“Why’s his hair not changing color?  Grandma ‘Dromeda said that mine changed _all_ the time when I was a baby.  Even when I was asleep!”

James scrunched his face up and let out a whimper. Uncle Harry sighed, picked up the newborn and started bouncing him lightly trying to get him to go back to sleep before he started crying.  Uncle Harry checked James’ diaper: nothing.

“So why’s his hair still brown?”

“Your abilities come from your mom’s side of the family.  My and Aunt Ginny’s families don’t have the same abilities in our family line.”

“What?”

Uncle Harry thought for a moment, still bouncing James. “Like how all of Aunt Ginny’s family has red hair.” Teddy changed his hair to match Aunt Ginny’s.

“But Victoire doesn’t have red hair, and she’s in Aunt Ginny’s family.”

Uncle Harry’s rocking didn’t work, and James started wailing.  Uncle Harry let out a breath of air and gestured for Teddy to follow him.  They walked into the kitchen and he waved his wand to get some milk together in a bottle.

“Victoire is blonde because Aunt Fleur’s Veela blood determines the color.”

He changed his hair blond and caught his face in the glass of a cabinet.  He looked too pale to be blond.  Teddy frowned and changed his hair back to bright red: better.

“It’s the mummy’s hair that makes the color?”

Uncle Harry wiggled his hand back and worth. “Sometimes.  It could also be the dad.”

“Like you and James?”

“Exactly.” Uncle Harry grabbed the reheated bottle and started to feed James.

“Aunt ‘Dromeda doesn’t have colored hair.”

“No, she doesn’t.  You got that skill from your mum.”

“She could change her hair?”

Uncle Harry smiled. “She could do a whole lot more, too.”

Teddy bounced in place, his hair changing to a light blue. “Like what? Like what?”

“She changed her nose into a pig’s snout once.”

“Woah!  Can I do that?” Teddy decided to try, even if Uncle Harry said he couldn’t.  He clenched his eyes and focused on what a pig’s nose looks like, trying to picture it on his face.  Uncle Harry snorted and Teddy lost his concentration. “Did I do it?”

Uncle Harry smiled and pointed him towards the glass cabinet. “You’re halfway there, I’d say.”

The tip of Teddy’s nose was pointed up, almost vanishing into the bridge, while the bottom was stretched flat.  It looked more like a deformed human’s nose than a pig’s.  Teddy pouted and let his nose go back to normal.

“You’ll get it Teddy.  Your mum told me it took her a while to learn how to do more obscure changes.”

The front door clicked open. “Harry, Teddy, James, I’m home!” Aunt Ginny called.

“We’re in the kitchen!” Uncle Harry called back.

“Hello, boys.” Aunt Ginny swept into the kitchen and kissed Uncle Harry on the lips and pecked James on his forehead to avoid disturbing him and his food.

“You’re gross,” declared Teddy.

Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny laughed.  She dropped her bag on the table and scooped Teddy up in her arms; he shrieked. “We’re ‘gross’, are we?” she questioned, and planted kisses all over his face.

“Ahhh!  Stop, stop!” he giggled, trying to fend off his aunt.

“Never!” She started tickling his ribs, and Teddy giggled harder.

“I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!  You’re not gross!”

Aunt Ginny stopped and smiled at him. “And don’t you forget it.”

Uncle Harry spoke up. “How was the Pre-Mothering Sunday pampering day?”

Aunt Ginny rolled her eyes and stood up. “Ugh, good, but tiring.  You know mum.  She kept hinting at Hermione to have grandkids until Andromeda told her to enjoy the kids she had and that Hermione and Ron will pop out children when they feel like it.” Uncle Harry snorted and handed James over to Aunt Ginny to be burped.

“What’s Mothering Sunday?” Teddy asked.  Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny shared a glance.

“I’ll explain,” he said to her. “Come on, Teddy, let’s talk in your room.”

Teddy followed Uncle Harry into his room.  While he didn’t live with the Potters all the time, he had a good portion of clothes and toys in his room to keep him entertained.  His most favorite toys, however, were back in Grandma ‘Dromeda’s house.  Uncle Harry sat down on the bed and pulled Teddy into his lap.

“Mothering Sunday is a day where people honor the mothers of children.  It used to be really religious, but over the years, we’ve changed it to give mums cards and gifts to help show them we love them.”

Teddy was silent.  He didn’t call anyone mum.  He had a mum, but Grandma ‘Dromeda said she died.  He wasn’t really sure what ‘died’ meant and Grandma ‘Dromeda wouldn’t tell him.  Teddy knew that Aunt Ginny and Uncle Ron called Grandma Molly ‘mum’, but he didn’t think Uncle Harry called anyone that.

“Who do you call ‘mum’?” Uncle Harry tightened his arms around Teddy and didn’t say anything.  Teddy looked up at Uncle Harry and found that his eyes were closed. “Uncle Harry?”

He swallowed and opened his eyes, smiling lightly down at Teddy. “Sorry.  Just remembered something.  I don’t call anyone ‘mum’.  My mum died when I was a little older than James.  I had one person, who I wanted to call mum when I was about your age, but she didn’t like that.”

“So I can’t celebrate Mothering Sunday?”

“Of course you can!  You have a lot of wonderful mothers in your life that would _love_ to get cards from you.”

“But my mum is died!  I don’t really know what that means, but Grandma ‘Dromeda said that’s why she takes care of me instead of them.”

Uncle Harry sighed. “Teddy, dead means that they aren’t coming back.  You know there was a war?” Teddy nodded. “A lot of good people died in that final fight, including your mum and dad.  When a person dies, it means that their body stops working and it can no longer support them.”

“So when we go put flowers on those graves, mum and dad are underneath them?”

Uncle Harry looked really sad, like he was trying not to cry. “Yes.”

“Oh.” Teddy looked down at his lap.  He heard stories about his parents, but he didn’t know them.  Sure, he missed them, but as Teddy sat on Uncle Harry’s lap, he realized it was a sort of detached sort of missing them, like missing a toy he played with once and never touched again. He started crying. “Is it bad to miss them, but not miss them?”

Uncle Harry placed Teddy and the ground and kneeled in front of him.  He placed his hands on Teddy’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Yes.  Because I feel the same way.  I miss my parents, too, but I never knew them, only the idea of them.  What you have to remember, is they loved you very much and fought to have you grow up without the fear of Voldemort or his followers.”

“They died to save me?”

Uncle Harry pulled Teddy into a hug. “Yes, they did.  Your dad was so happy when you were born.  Waving around your picture and everything.”

Teddy giggled. “Can I make mum and Aunt Ginny and Grandma ‘Dromeda and Grandma Molly cards for tomorrow?”

Uncle Harry pulled back. “Of course you can.  Come on, the paper’s downstairs, and we can have Aunt Ginny watch James while we make them, okay, so she doesn’t see.”

“Okay!” Teddy grabbed onto Uncle Harry’s hand and started pulling him out of his room to go find the coloring supplies. “Next time I go visit mum and dad, I’m going to tell them everything.”

Uncle Harry smiled softly down at Teddy. “I’m sure they’d love that.”

_The end._

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are love. Find me at lordrebeccasama on tumblr.


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